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Lawmakers warn oil company to abandon Cuban drilling plans
A bipartisan group of 34 House members is pressuring Spanish oil giant Repsol to abandon its plans to drill in deep waters off Cuba’s northern coast, warning that the company could face liability in U.S. courts.
Their letter to Repsol — which warns that its plans will “provide direct financial benefit to the Castro dictatorship” — joins existing concerns about the environmental risk of spills in the waters 60 miles from Florida’s coast.
It states:
As to current law, Repsol may be in jeopardy of subjecting itself and its affiliates to criminal and civil liability in U.S. courts. Violations of the Trading with the Enemy Act, the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act (LIBERTAD), the Alien Tort Claims Act and the Trade Sanctions Reform and Enforcement Act can lead to serious ramifications for individuals or businesses that deal with the Cuban regime. Additionally, there are only four U.S.-designated State Sponsors of Terrorism, and the laws that regulate commercial transactions with them, and the grave civil and criminal penalties that those laws impose, are comprehensive.
The whole letter and the list of signatories is available here.
Repsol plans to begin looking for oil off Cuba’s coast as soon as late 2011, according to press reports.
William Reilly, who co-chaired the presidential commission that probed the BP oil spill, recently traveled to Cuba along with drilling experts and environmentalists on a fact-finding trip discuss the country’s offshore exploration plans.
